Doug Bloomer challenged me with his speech, "You've Come a Long Way - Maybe." While alluding to Virginia Slims commercials from the 60s, he traced the development of our humanity and the never ending goal to keep on growing.
Perhaps, instead of greeting one another with a friendly, "How goes it?" we should ask, "How grows it?"
Mel Celini expaned our awareness of wine making - especially the issue of how good wines are topped off. To my surprise, I learned that use of the cork is not the best method for preserving the best wines.
I did an impersonation of Mayor Byron T. Simpleton of Polecat Hollow. It was a little rough and in the form of a news conference. I learned from the evaluation to state my main idea, even in a story, more clearly at the begining and to vary my voice a bit. I was quite loud and doing the vocal impression put my voice production in the soft palate - bad technique on a good day.
A little more on the inappropriate use of the soft palate is found at this page at the University of New South Wales: Vocal Track Acoustics. As a voice teacher, I know better, but the use of the palate to produce sound has become more and more of a norm because of the popularity of pop music and the mouth sounds that acompany the genre.The bottom line of vocal production is that sound is produced in the vocal cords - even vowels are formed there. Many thanks to George for helping me remember this and my apologies for the physical pain I inflicted. Toastmaster's is such an excellent venue for learning and growing. I value it more every week.
It was a fun meeting, Miss Anna Ho (see the picture below pictured with Melaney Shaum) did a superb impromptu job of introducing interesting and entertaining table topics around the subject of pajamas. George Muller made us blush a bit with his thoughtful response, but all added to the lively spirit of the meeting.
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